Observing his surroundings, Xuan Hao quickly realized that he had reached the end of the ancient stone road. The lush forest that covered the main peak had also come to an end as he stood at the entrance to a large opening with nothing inside of it outside a half broken down pagoda at the centre.

This however was not what caught Xuan Hao's attention Instead, it was a large sleeping demon beast in the shape of a lion laying just beside the broken-down pagoda.

Looking closer, Xuan Hao discovered that the lion demon beast even had a pair of wings on its back neatly hugging its sleeping body as it breathed in and out rhythmically.

A few meters away from the sleeping winged lion demon beast, a large pile of animal bones could be seen. Among which, a pair of giant deer bones could be seen on top of the pile. belonging to the most recent victim of the winged lion demon beast.

"This is most likely the remains of the small blue deer's mother" Whispering this to himself as he cautiously looking around the open space, Xuan Hao soon calmed down after realizing that the winged lion demon beast didn't wake up.

"The quest wants me to deal with the threat that once took the small blue deer's mother's life So, I have to deal with the giant winged lion?" Glancing over towards the giant winged lion, Xuan Hao didn't know how to proceed next.

From just inspecting the aura alone, Xuan Hao had easily determined that the winged lion demon beast was still in the Domain Lord Realm. The only problem was the fact that he could not find out if it was at the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm or only the first stage of the Domain Lord without waking it up in the process.

Though Just looking at it, Xuan Hao doubted that the winged lion would merely be at the first stage of the Domain Lord Realm

"Maybe I should check out the pagoda first?"

Looking away from the winged lion demon beast, Xuan Hao focused his gaze on the half broken down pagoda just beside the winged lion demon beast.

The broken down and decaying pagoda was by no means small, as it easily towered a few dozen meters into the sky. Given its current decaying circumstances, Xuan Hao even began to wonder how it could stand tall without collapsing.

Just looking up at it from where he was standing, Xuan Hao could clearly see into the first floor of the pagoda where a large part of it seemed to have broken off and fallen onto the ground below. Leaving behind a large hole that anyone walking by could look inside the pagoda through.

I should explore the pagoda first After all, if I start fighting with that winged lion, the pagoda will most likely end up being destroyed

Having made up his mind to search through the pagoda before fighting the winged lion demon beast, Xuan Hao sneakily moved towards the pagoda. Levitating just a few centimeters off the ground so as to not make any sound and accidently wake up the winged lion demon beast.

Whoosh~

Arriving in front of the entrance to the decaying pagoda, Xuan Hao cautiously looked towards the giant winged lion demon beast sleeping just a few meters away from him before letting out a sigh of relief upon discovering that the winged lion was still asleep.

I wonder who this pagoda belonged to in the past

No longer paying any attention to the sleeping winged lion, Xuan Hao marvelled at the beautiful architecture of the pagoda that was still intact while slowly floating inside. Not knowing what he might find inside.

"W-what in the world is this place!?"

Arriving inside the ground floor of the pagoda, Xuan Hao could not stop himself from exclaiming loudly as he stared out at the massive amount of withered up herbs covering the floor of the pagoda. However, the main reason for Xuan Hao's not being able to hold himself back was

"Why Why wasn't I born a few hundred years earlier? So many Mystic Grade Herbs"

Feeling a profound sadness as he looked over at least a few hundred, if not thousands withered up Mystic Grade spiritual herb. Even Xuan Hao felt pain in his heart at the sheer number of spiritual herbs that had been rendered completely useless with the passage of time.

While it was often known that a spiritual herb would grow stronger the longer, they were alive. Spiritual herbs were not immortal and even if they had a lifespan way above humans and demon beast, they would still have to advance to the next level to increase their lifespan...

Like the spiritual herbs in front of him, if they wanted to live longer, they would have to evolve into Transcendent Grade spiritual herbs Sadly, none of the spiritual herbs on the ground floor of the pagoda had managed to take this crucial step in their evolution and reached the Transcendent Grade

Meaning, all that was left on the ground floor of the pagoda, was the sad withered husks of what had once been extremely rare and useful spiritual herbs Truly a sight anyone would feel sadness over. Alchemist might even break into tears at the sad sight

"Hopefully there is something different on the first floor of the pagoda"

Not wanting to stay around the ground floor where the sad remains of spiritual herbs covered the floor, Xuan Hao could not help turning towards the spiral staircase located at the centre of the pagoda before making his way over.

From what he had seen through the hole in the pagoda from the outside, the first floor of the pagoda was filled with several books that had been scattered all over the place. Similar to how the withered spiritual herbs were laying all over the ground floor of the pagoda.

At least the books would not be able to wither away like the spiritual herbs had Hopefully, he would be able to find something useful on the first floor

""

Looking down on a book he had just picked off the floor of the first floor of the pagoda, Xuan Hao felt like crying as the book was written in a completely different language than the one that was currently used on the Ewaria Continent!

Even if there was something useful like a peerless cultivation technique or a mythical potion formula, Xuan Hao would have no idea even if he looked directly at it

"Hm?"

Just as he was about to give up on finding anything useful on the first floor of the pagoda, Xuan Hao barely managed to spot a few familiar letters on a book partially buried beneath a few other books at the edge of the hole he had seen making his way over to the pagoda earlier.

Whoosh~

Not daring to be too loud with the winged lion demon beast sleeping just outside, Xuan Hao slowly levitated towards the book before gently pulling it out of them small pile of books on top of it before moving away from the hole.

Keeping his eye on the winged lion demon beast the entire time. Making sure that it didn't wake up from its deep sleep.

"Hah"

Arriving back at the spiral staircase, Xuan Hao let out a sigh of relief upon discovering that the winged lion was still deep asleep. Showing no signs of waking up any time soon.

He really didn't want to fight with it before he had finished searching the pagoda for anything precious

"Movements of the Hm?"

Looking down at the title of the book, Xuan Hao realized that part of the title had been scratched off.

Opening the book, Xuan Hao quickly realized that the book was not really a book in a sense, it was more like a record that noted down the movements of several different people. All of whose names Xuan Hao had never heard of before.

The only thing that gave Xuan Hao some idea about how strong the people noted down in the book were, was the fact that original writer of the book had included several footnotes beside each of the people's names. Stressing the importance of them and showing off the pure terror the writer had felt towards the people he or she had been keeping an eye on.

Looking through the book, Xuan Hao found the names of several familiar locations and at the same time, even more unfamiliar locations he had never heard of before

However, one thing clearly stood out to him as he was reading through the book and that was the fact that all the people mentioned inside the book, was part of some kind of ancient power that had been at war with the power behind the person who had originally written down the book.

"I wonder what happened in the past"

Not having heard much about the war that was mentioned in the book, Xuan Hao felt like it might be related to the ancient war that happened in the past Maybe it was even related to the power that had once ruled the area that had now become the Ewaria Continent